The role of the Classification Societies in the era of globalization: a case study

Although in the great majority of States, the inspection and certification of vessels are provided as public services, the Classification Societies continue being an essential element in maritime traffic, since the official inspections and certifications generally do not take into consideration certain structural aspects or details of vessels. The starting point is an analysis of the role of the Classification Societies on the global and local scale; a case study in a medium-size port of the European Union, the Port of the Bay of Cadiz, is presented. For the case study, an analysis has been made of 507 vessels between the years 2002 and 2008. From the statistical results, it is concluded that there tends to be a direct relationship between the age of the vessel and its classification by a particular type of Society, both with respect to the profiles of risk and to whether the society is a member of the International Association of Classification Societies. The same occurs with respect to the number of days a vessel is detained as a consequence of the Port State Control (PSC) inspections. Similar relationships between Classification Societies and vessels are observed with respect to the flags States, based on featuring in the Black List of the MoU, and with the subclassification of risks.